World

Hans Küng urges confrontation from the grassroots to unseat pope and force radical reform at Vatican One of the world’s most prominent Catholic theologians has called for a revolution from below to unseat the pope and force radical reform...

The International Monetary Fund has cut its global growth forecasts for this year and 2013 and called on politicians in the eurozone and the US to take “decisive” steps to restore confidence, a German newspaper said Friday. Citing...

Dutch police are hot on the trail of a sheep-rustling ring responsible for the unprecedented theft of hundreds of ovines, with suspicions falling on a mutton Mafia with shepherding experience. “We are busy with an intensive investigation...

Norway is to extend the amount of parental leave reserved for dads to 14 weeks, bringing the period that can be claimed by both parents on full pay to 49 weeks, a coalition member party said on Friday. The Scandinavian country’s system is...

Walking or running in a full suit of samurai armour is not the easiest thing in the world. Swimming in it is even harder, but that’s exactly what some in Japan are doing. For fun. “It’s heavy, and it’s hot in here…...

About 100 monks demonstrated in Myanmar’s main city Yangon on Friday against attacks by Muslim mobs targeting Buddhist temples and homes in neighboring Bangladesh. Holding signs with slogans including “The Earth Is for Everyone, Not...

BEIJING (AFP) – The bodies of all 18 schoolchildren buried under a landslide in China have been recovered, media said Friday, as officials defended returning them to school following recent deadly earthquakes. The landslide, triggered by...

The boss of French clothing firm Zadig & Voltaire has apologised for saying that Chinese tourists would not be welcome at an exclusive new hotel planned by the company in Paris. Company founder Thierry Gillier told fashion industry journal...

One miner has been killed in clashes between police and striking workers at a South African platinum mine, witnesses said Friday, as President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm. “Yesterday (Thursday) the cops shot many people, but one of them...

JERUSALEM – A US tourist opened fire in the lobby of a hotel in the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat on Friday killing one person, before being shot dead by the security forces, police said. The shooting, which broke out in the...

Church of England bishops have been warned they must embark on an honest dialogue about gay clergy and laity if they are to avoid the church reaching “a tipping point where it is too morally discredited to be respected on any issue”....

WASHINGTON — The United States said Thursday Turkey had taken “appropriate” and “proportional” action in firing back at Syria after a deadly cross-border shelling, but urged that tensions should not escalate. “From...

The Moroccan navy on Thursday blocked the Mediterranean harbour in which a controversial Dutch “abortion ship” was due to dock in the first such trip to a Muslim country, one of the organisers said. “They have blocked the...

A draft law aimed at resolving a controversy in Germany over the circumcision of boys is due to be considered by the cabinet next week, a source close to the government said Thursday. The new legislation would permit circumcision under certain...

Sweden’s royal court has criticised the publication of an artwork showing the Swedish king eating pizza off a naked woman’s body, while the queen tries to scrub a swastika off the floor. “There is a limit to how much anyone...